There is a place where myths still exist, where legends continue to be a reality. This powerful place, with the environment always preserved, is Tahiti. A land of stories, discoveries, dreams, enchantments, become the embodiment of paradise for the whole world to experience.
More than anywhere else, nature offers everything to humans. And this people in love with sacredness and beauty, born in the heart of a Garden of Eden like no other, full of rare essences, has managed to preserve its existence, authenticity and customs thanks to the multi-generational transmission of traditional millennial know-how, that has remained virtually unchanged until today.
In Tahiti where the connection to the divine, the mana, is still expressed in everything and in everyone, the Miss Tahiti is the embodiment of the beauty offered to men by the Gods. Present in the flowers, the scents, the shimmering colors of the lagoons and the vegetation, it is never as bright and alive as in the beauty of women, who have taken scrupulous care since the dawn of time with their many beauty rituals.
The range of Miss Tahiti Cosmetics products is drawn from the rituals transmitted by their mothers who offer them to the world today as a bewitching secret from faraway lands and from the depths of time, it has been developed from components that are as natural as they are precious, preserved in the memory of Polynesians like a treasure.
The Miss Tahiti, beautiful among the beautiful, represent still images of the vahine, sensual as seduction experts, deeply connected to their femininity. They have naturally become the muse of body careencapsulated in all the vibrant energy of this luxuriant, omnipresent and preserved nature.
The Miss Tahiti Cosmeticsare four products offered to the world by five Miss Tahiti that personify at the same time all the timelessness of youth, the permanence oftransmission and modernity in contemporary Polynesia, which has a strong heritage of rare authenticity that continues to make it a hotspot for well-being, beauty and seduction.
- Hinarere Taputu - Miss Tahiti 2014
- Mehiata Riaria - Miss Tahiti 2013
- Vaimiti Teiefitu - Miss Tahiti 2015
- Vaea Ferrand - Miss Tahiti 2016
- Matahari Bousquet - Miss Tahiti 2019
These five Miss, who are the embodiment of Polynesian beauty by essence, have actively participated in the making of these products, as they have been part of the project at many stages of the creative process led by the Laboratoire de cosmétologie du Pacifique Sud in Papara to bring about their formulation.
These four products are the fruit of their will, their spirit, their quest to sublimate the beauty of women by returning to the source, the foundation of the myth.
The Miss Tahiti range now includes four products to better transmit these beauty secrets that date from the origins of Polynesian civilization. Four products whose formulation is based on an exceptional component, that is, a fragrant and sacred oil: Mono'i oil.
- Monoi : Vahine’s secret Monoi
- Red Mono'ioil : Mono'i for Tanning
- Body Scrub : Bora Bora fine sand scrub
- Hair oil : Vahine hair sheen
A secret and sacred story
The ancient Polynesians have always been very close to the Gods. Their cosmogony, in other words, their vision of the universe as it has been accounted for in precious masterpieces, included many strata, from submarine to aerial elements, the latter being the realm of the Gods. Several intermediate stages of this cosmogony consisted of a world of plants of which it was necessary to acquire knowledge to evolve and get closer to the upper strata. By learning about plants, men rose to the rank of Gods...
The privileged thread of this evolution was mono'i oil, a term long and falsely translated as "scented oil", a very neutral term which by and large obscures the truly sacred and very spiritual dimension attached to this oil.
All the priests formerly officiating on the marae (sacred platforms on which the ancient Polynesian cults were held) had their own recipes for mono'i, all different with intrinsically encapsulating "powers". This unique, infinitely precious product accompanied Polynesians throughout their existence, from massaging babies to embalming the dead.
The three dimensions of care, the sacred and spirituality were so linked that they ended up giving birth to a true culture of care, inseparable from beauty, perceived as a perfect reflection of the sacred character. This culture has been piously transmitted, from one generation to another, across the millennia by an oral tradition that goes on today.
Mono'i oil, an unmatched oil
This tradition of mono'iis also essential to the preservation of mana, a connection to the divine and to the other, who perceives life as a whole, and whose elements are all linked, a notion that has always been at the heart of the Polynesian identity.
The mana is essentially based on five interconnected pillars which are: nature; food; the body, whose energy must be preserved by moving and taking care of, aesthetically speaking but also through the taurumi, for example, which is traditional massage; knowledge including that of plants; and finally the tahu'a, the expert, who embodied the connection to the old and to the memory on which the whole principle of transmission is based. Mono'ioil alone presents the incredible characteristics of sustaining, of being at the base of several of these pillars. It thus carries all the sacred dimension associated withmana, to its magic and its power, that are now known all over the world.
An exceptional formulation
Because they have been developed with so much authenticity and respect for tradition, the products of the Miss Tahiti Cosmetics range could only incorporate exceptional ingredients into their formulas, among which is of course mono'i oil.
If the latter still has the same base (grated coconut oil, 'autī or coconut milk), it is possible to macerate a large number of plants, depending on the use one wants to make. The flowers ofTiare Tahiti, which is the famousTahitian Gardenia, whose scent is so captivating and so emblematic of the islands of French Polynesia, are traditionally macerated in the selected oil.
Mono'ioilis undeniably the most appreciated one for beauty rituals. It has therefore logically been the one oil chosen for the Miss Tahiti Cosmetics range of products so it can be used as a base for the products.
The four products in the range thus all contain mono'i oil specifically made for Miss Tahiti Cosmetics and they are based on coconut oil and gardenia Taitensis ;mono'i oil produced according to the rules of a designation of origin existing since 1992 and which certifies the purity, the quality and the authenticity of the product.
- Mono'i oil secret of vahine : In addition to Mono'i oil from Tahiti Designation of Origin produced with the greatest respect for tradition, this fragrant oil of exceptional quality contains 60% Mono’i'umuhei in the formula.
The infinitely precious mono'i 'umuhei (or kumuhei) is a specialty of the northern islands of the Marquesas archipelago. This bouquet of scents, also called love bouquet, has always been worn in the hair or around the neck by the women of the archipelago to seduce men as the perfumes from the plants exhale. Every Marquesan woman today has kept a unique recipe that was transmitted secretly by her mother at an age when one must conquer her tāne (her man), and the basic ingredients are often these: miri(wild basil), moto'i(ylang-ylang), pūtara (blue agate), sandalwood, re'aTahiti (tumeric),all of these are bundled on fern leaves. We can also associate pineapple eyes sprinkled with sandalwood powder, flowers of Tiare Tahiti and frangipani as well as parts of red fara drupes (pandanus).
The mono'i 'umuhei used in Mono'i skincare, secret of vahine from Miss Tahiti Cosmetics is made by macerating that bouquet in coconut oil. With its great magic it is also associated with fabulous and enthralling legends telling the story of great seductresses.
- Vahine hair sheen : this scented oil of exceptional quality contains mono'i oil from Tahiti, but also mono'i oil from two other macerated mixes, namely a mono'i with Mo'orea pineapple and mono'i oil with enticing flower kaupe(otherwise called pua, Fagraeaberteriana, a tree native to French Polynesia). Mono'i Honey from Tahiti is added to its formula to handle your hair fiber with the greatest care.
- Mono'i for tanning : its formulation base is always made of Mono'i oil from Tahiti - Designation of Origin - and is enriched with an extract of urucum seeds, which pigment brings a whole natural red color. As they are very rich in carotenoids (including beta-carotene), the small red seeds of this plant, also known as roucou (Bixaorellana), produce an oil by extraction, that naturally protects against sunburn, while also showing relaxing and anti-aging properties thanks to their high antioxidant contents.
- Fine sand scrub from bora bora : this unique natural treatment is formulated like the others from a base of Mono'i from Tahiti Designation of Origin to which 10% of mono'i 'umuhei has been added for skin care and hydration. Its exfoliating qualities are rendered by adding white sand from Bora Bora, the bewitching island known as "the Pearl of the Pacific", whose white sands are known worldwide, and by adding coconut pulp, always extracted in a traditional way.
A signature scent
All the products of the Miss Tahiti Cosmetics range exhale the same paradise perfume, exposing a woody note thanks to bamboo, flowery and soft notes thanks to Tiare Tahiti flowers and the ylang-ylang that comes to support and strengthen the pītate (Tahiti jasmine), as well as more suave, fruity and sweet notes with papaya and coconut. It all makes for an irresistible bouquet of scents instantly evocative of French Polynesia ... and of earthly paradise.
Local know-how and responsible approach
All the products in the Miss Tahiti Cosmetics range have been designed with the utmost respect for traditional ancestral know-how and resources, starting with the flagship product, mono'i oil.
The latter is made from the particularly fat kernels of coconuts, before being mixed with flowers of Tiare Tahiti (or other flowers or plant essences).
The ingredients are often still hand-mixed when mono'i oil is produced artisan-style and they are exposed to sunlight for many days and then filtered over and over to obtain the precious oil.
Today just like in the old days, ancestral techniques are used such as adding prawn heads or the abdomen of hermit crabs to hasten the fermentation process of coconut oil.
Plant farms, are part of the programs designed to preserve plants while adding value to them.
The Laboratoire de cosmétologie du Pacifique Sud: Over 25 years serving beauty made in Fenua
Miss Tahiti Cosmetics has chosen to manufacture the products of its new range locally and with local ingredients, with due respect to the resources and traditional know-how. To comply with these requirements, the Miss Tahiti Cosmetics brand has therefore entrusted the manufacture of its products to Laboratoire de cosmétologie du Pacifique Sud, whose facilities are located in Papara, a municipality on the west coast of Tahiti under the management of Olivier Touboul since 1992.
This structure has indeed always been dedicated to the development of cosmetics from the riches of Polynesian nature and its founder was particularly concerned with learning and preserving the Polynesian heritage in this domain.
As a supplier of very high-quality active and non-active ingredients and as a formula designer of finished products for local spas and hotels for major international brands, a manufacturer and now plant grower for several years, the laboratory now has partnerships with about 450 brands, some of which are prestigious ones.
This partnership therefore seemed obvious to the new Miss Tahiti Cosmetics brand, which aims for excellence as much as quality in the production of skincare products directly sourced from Polynesian tradition,culture and identity.
The ongoing concern among both parties to preserve resources was also a major element in the close partnership hinging around essential values. Olivier Touboul is indeed more than ever committed to a sustainable development approach through deliberate, extreme and restrictive internal specifications while working within EPER, the club of Polynesian eco-responsible companies founded 4 years ago. The social responsibility of the Laboratoire de cosmétologie du Pacifique Sud has made it the ideal partner in the development of new range Miss Tahiti Cosmetics, as it pushes the sense of aesthetics of Polynesians to a higher degree, with the notions of humility and the sacred dimension that have always been associated with their culture and their identity, while being very respectful of Nature.
